VOA常速英语2007年-Sara Tavares Leads New Generation of Cape Verde

By Tendai Maphosa
London
11 December 2007

The African islands of Cape¹ Verde have a rich musical tradition and one young, new artist, Sara Tavares, is carrying that tradition forward and to new levels.  She played in London recently, where Tendai Maphosa met up with her and filed this report for VOA.

Cape Verde's musical tradition goes back centuries, mixing Portuguese² and African influences and, true to the islands' history as a crossroad for trade, carrying that music far and wide.  Sara Tavares, 29, is building on that tradition.

Her family hails from the islands, but she was born in Lisbon, where her parents had emigrated in the mid-1970s.  Sitting in her dressing³ room at the Queen Elizabeth Hall on London's South Bank, she tells VOA that from an early age she wanted to be a musician.  After winning a national talent contest she represented Portugal in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1994.  She was only 16 years old. 

Her entry did not win, but it was an important stepping-stone.  She says after that she wanted to do more than just interpret other peoples' songs.

"When I made a deeper choice, I wanted to do this for real; I wanted to do it on my own terms; I want to speak about myself.  That is when I decided⁴ to compose," she recalled.  "I started looking inside my world and my world brings me back to Africa, because that is where my parents are coming from."

Africa may be Sara Tavares' muse⁵, but she says having been raised in Portugal has exposed her to numerous other influences, notably⁶ from other Portuguese-speaking countries.  She incorporates all these into what she describes as 'Sara's music,' which she sings in a blend of Portuguese, English, Portuguese slang, Angolan slang, and Cape Verdean Crioulo, which mixes some English and French words. 

Tavares says if there is any message in her music it is about the universal human condition brought to light through song.

"In my songs I mostly talk to myself," she said.  "I say that my songs are lullabies for myself; songs of encouragement for myself, just to believe that each human being is unique, to accept all the good and the bad in your life and to learn how to transform it."

Human behavior, she says, inspires her.  She recounts one example of how her travels present her with material including when some apparently⁷ drunken Zimbabweans she saw during an arts festival she played at in Harare, inspired the title track of her latest album.

"At the end of the festival I was still hanging around and there were some people, either they were drunk or high I do not know," she said.  "But they were dancing in a real graceful⁸, beautiful way it looked like they were going to fall at any minute, but they kept on dancing they were almost on the floor then back up and the song 'Balancé' is about enjoying the ups and downs in life and finding your swing in between."

Sara's Queen Elizabeth Hall performance in London is part of her tour to promote her second album Balancé.

Even though it was released more than two years ago, Sara Tavares is still on the road promoting it.  She says she feels no pressure to follow up with another album at the moment.  That, she says, takes time and for now she says she is gathering⁹ inspiration from every day life.

1 cape   

n.海角，岬；披肩，短披风

参考例句：

• I long for a trip to the Cape of Good Hope.我渴望到好望角去旅行。
• She was wearing a cape over her dress.她在外套上披着一件披肩。

2 Portuguese   

n.葡萄牙人；葡萄牙语

参考例句：

• They styled their house in the Portuguese manner.他们仿照葡萄牙的风格设计自己的房子。
• Her family is Portuguese in origin.她的家族是葡萄牙血统。

3 dressing   

n.(食物)调料；包扎伤口的用品，敷料

参考例句：

• Don't spend such a lot of time in dressing yourself.别花那么多时间来打扮自己。
• The children enjoy dressing up in mother's old clothes.孩子们喜欢穿上妈妈旧时的衣服玩。

4 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

5 muse   

n.缪斯（希腊神话中的女神），创作灵感

参考例句：

• His muse had deserted him,and he could no longer write.他已无灵感，不能再写作了。
• Many of the papers muse on the fate of the President.很多报纸都在揣测总统的命运。

6 notably   

adv.值得注意地，显著地，尤其地，特别地

参考例句：

• Many students were absent,notably the monitor.许多学生缺席，特别是连班长也没来。
• A notably short,silver-haired man,he plays basketball with his staff several times a week.他个子明显较为矮小，一头银发，每周都会和他的员工一起打几次篮球。

7 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

8 graceful   

adj.优美的，优雅的；得体的

参考例句：

• His movements on the parallel bars were very graceful.他的双杠动作可帅了!
• The ballet dancer is so graceful.芭蕾舞演员的姿态是如此的优美。

9 gathering   

n.集会，聚会，聚集

参考例句：

• He called on Mr. White to speak at the gathering.他请怀特先生在集会上讲话。
• He is on the wing gathering material for his novels.他正忙于为他的小说收集资料。